 WakeMed Soccer Park hosted the match | |||||||
| Event | 2024 NCAA Division I women's soccer tournament | ||||||
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| Date | December 9, 2024 | ||||||
| Venue | WakeMed Soccer Park, Cary, NC | ||||||
| Referee | Danielle Chesky | ||||||
| Attendance | 9,475 | ||||||
The 2024 NCAA Division I women's soccer championship game (also known as the 2024 NCAA Division I Women's College Cup) was played on December 9, 2024, at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina, and determined the winner of the 2024 NCAA Division I women's soccer tournament, the national collegiate women's soccer championship in the United States. This was the 43rd edition of this tournament organized by the NCAA. [1]
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The match featured North Carolina and Wake Forest, both from the ACC. The match was Wake Forest's first appearance in the final, and it was North Carolina's twenty-eighth appearance. North Carolina's head coach Damon Nahas was coaching in his first championship game, as was Wake Forest head coach Tony da Luz. Nahas was in his first season as head coach while da Luz was in his twenty-eighth. The two rivals met during the regular season on September 12, a game which North Carolina won at home 1–0. Both teams entered as the second seed in their respective brackets. Wake Forest was ranked third in the United Soccer Coaches poll, while North Carolina was ranked eighth. [2]
North Carolina prevailed in the final 1–0 by virtue of a sixty-second minute free-kick goal from Olivia Thomas. [3] The win was North Carolina's twenty-second NCAA tournament title, and their twenty-third title overall, as they won one AIAW title. [4] North Carolina won the title despite having twenty one players leave the team from the prior season, and the retirement of their forty-seven year head coach Anson Dorrance just four days prior to the start of the season. [5] After the game, Clare Gagne was named the tournament Most Outstanding Defensive Player and Olivia Thomas was named tournament Most Outstanding Offensive Player. [6]
